33pwnt33
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Cleaning glassware
I recently received my order of glassware for my home chemistry (much better than mason jars), but encountered an obstacle; cleaning. Due to the fact
that I wasn't doing anything that required absolutely zero contamination, I just used tap water. The issue was that I was getting these ugly mineral
stains on the glass. My method of removal involved microwaving my glassware with some vinegar inside and cleaning it with that  (obviously after thorough rinsing with water).
I am pretty sure that this is a bad method of cleaning the glassware, and I would love to know how to properly clean it (can I use detergent?)
As an absolute side note, this is my first post to the forum... yay!
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Metacelsus
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If it's just mineral stains from tap water, mild acid such as vinegar is fine. There are many other threads here about cleaning more persistent
stains. Scrubbing with soap and water, and rinsing with deionized/distilled water, works well for most things.
Welcome aboard!
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33pwnt33
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Thanks, cleaning right now!
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m1tanker78
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Yeah, rinsing with distilled water or any salt-less volatile solvent usually works for the final rinse. My favorite is pure ammonia water (no
surfactant or other crap).
My usual go-to method is to use a lint-free cloth to dry things like beakers where you can stick your hand or at least fingers in. For things like
RBFs, sep funnel, etc, I wash profusely or set up a solvent/acid reflux -- depending on what residue is in there -- then always finish off with a few
rinses with distilled water, ammonia water or rubbing alcohol.
My glass always turns out brilliant and spot-free with ammonia + lint free rag. You know, the kind of brilliance where you want to put on a glove to
prevent fingerprints.
Chemical CURIOSITY KILLED THE CATalyst.
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battoussai114
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Lab protocol here is rinsing with distilled water after washing too. If you don't have distilled water try rinsing with Isopropyl alcohol maybe, it's
easy to get it with high purity and it should drag the water away and later evaporate.
Just for not creating another thread: Any idea of some heavy duty cleaning mix that doesn't involve sulfo-permanganic mix?
I've had to boil a pool supply hydrochloric acid for speeding up a reaction and some blue coloring agent that was in the acid stained one of my big
Erlenmeyerw. I've found that a mixture of some acid + H2O2 would clean if I scrubbed a lot... but that isn't a nice solution.
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aga
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Scrape the crap out then stick it in the dishwasher.
I really Wish.
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Praxichys
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Sulfamic acid works great for mineral spots. It's also much less smelly than vinegar.
@ battoussai114 - If the dye was used to color an acid, it is probably inert to acidic attack. Try a NaOH solution in isopropanol. Just be careful -
base baths are pretty corrosive to skin.
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m1tanker78
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Quote: Originally posted by battoussai114  |
I've had to boil a pool supply hydrochloric acid for speeding up a reaction and some blue coloring agent that was in the acid stained one of my big
Erlenmeyerw. I've found that a mixture of some acid + H2O2 would clean if I scrubbed a lot... but that isn't a nice solution. |
If you have some DMSO on hand, try a little of that first. Make a small pool of DMSO at the bottom and gently warm . If it doesn't work, you're not
out much DMSO. If it does work, pour a little more DMSO in, warm gently and swirl. Avoid heating excessively and avoid mixing anything in with it --
especially oxidizers.
I hate strong HNO3 and piranha but I'll reluctantly use it when the gunk won't react to form an explosive substance -- only for the fancier items that
aren't easily scrubbed. Beakers and Erlenmeyers get tossed or designated for similar experiments. Not worth the hassle and risk.
Chemical CURIOSITY KILLED THE CATalyst.
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pneumatician
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try with sand.
I distilled red wine and the RBF is dirty with some fucking "cream". put sulfuric, HCL, NaOH, HNO3... and nothing!!! I need to test vinegar, tartaric
acid... 
is hard to clean a deep RBF with 24/40 neck.
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